‘so smart.’
courtesy of ‘m hoek’

Earlier this month, the District Department of Transportation unveiled Capital Bikeshare, a new bicycle sharing program that will be rolled out in the District and Arlington County. Now, DDOT is turning to the Internet to figure out the best locations for the bicycle sharing stations. Anyone can participate in the survey, which was created by OCTO Labs.

If you’re interested at all in seeing bicycle sharing expand and (hopefully be successful), spend a few moments filling out the questionnaire. It’s great to see DDOT continue to embrace the use of the web, not only with this survey but with their new blog and an active and responsive  Twitter account.

Previously, DDOT used the web to select the name for the program. Capital Bikeshare was the winner, with “George” as the runner-up. There was some consternation about the plainness of the name, which DDOT director John Lisle acknowledged. As we saw earlier this week with DC WASA’s name change, letting the public choose your brand isn’t always the wisest choice.

From 5 to 7:30pm tonight, a dozen galleries along H Street Northeast are throwing open their doors as part of an Art Walk. Think of it like a pub crawl, but for your creative brain, instead of your decrepit liver. Each of the places will be handing out passports, and for each place you visit, you increase your discount at a number of H Street Restaurants and Bars, with a max of 10%. That’s right, your decrepit liver will also benefit, as well as your creative brain.

The galleries for tonight include, Bryant K. Adams, Studio H, City Gallery, Jorge Velazquez, Atlas Performing Arts Center, Gallery O/H, Sova, H Street Playhouse, G Fine Art, Conner Contemporary Art, Industry Gallery and Evolve Urban Arts Project.

The restaurants providing discounts are: Ethiopic, Toyland, Liberty Tree, Sticky Rice, The Pug, H Street Country Club, Dangerously Delicious Pies and Argonaut.

‘Banana Slug’
courtesy of ‘Dan..’

Actually, it’s not the slug that will get the ticket, it’s the drivers who stop for them, according to WTOP. The slug pickup areas on 14th Street downtown are informal areas where southbound commuters gather to help other drivers reach the HOV-3 limit for 395 South. Where they’re stopping, though, are No Stopping Zones that muddle up the traffic, much like the tourbuses yesterday.

Slugging is a great method of informal carpooling that significantly lowers the amount of cars on the road. Perhaps a “slug zone” on 14th street would help alleviate that? Either way, careful how you do it this week, you might get stuck with a $100 ticket. Sure, that’s cheaper than the HOV Violation in Virginia, but still, no fun for anyone.

NBC Washington was out at Mini Camp today, and got reaction from several people, both players and coaches, about Albert Haynesworth’s decision to seek a trade. Coach Shanahan was pretty clear that after they’d asked Haynesworth to make up his mind by April 1st (when he was due a $21M check) on what he was going to do for the season, and he’d accepted the check, he was expected to show up today. His teammates were quite disappointed in his no-show today.

Just despicable.

Photo by Cheryl Nichols/Nationals News Network

The left-hander has no idea what’s wrong, which leaves an already shaky Nationals rotation a little shakier a few weeks before the All-Star break.

Lannan (2-4) allowed seven runs, six earned, in 4 1/3 innings Sunday while the Nationals proceeded to lose 7-4 in what could have been a winnable game to the Detroit Tigers last night. This is due in part to Lannan’s weakness from the mound.

The Nationals offense produced run support for Lannan early on and were up 4-2 in the fourth, but that wasn’t enough to keep them ahead.

“We need to put this one behind us,” Rodriguez told MLB.com’s Bill Ladson. “Our bullpen has been great and was great again tonight and Walker and Sean [Burnett, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning] gave us a chance to win.”

According to Nats Insider Mark Zuckerman, Lannan continues to string together the worst back-to-back starts of his career. The most puzzling part of the Lannan weak-start debacle is that the lefty who earned the past two opening day starts for Washington due to his consistent and reliable work is no longer proving he’s the same guy.

The problem eating away at Lannan and affecting his game as well as the Nats win-loss count is his trademark sinker that’s been a cornerstone of his success as a pitcher thus far. The problem is the ball’s not sinking. Continue reading →